Pope Francis did a lot of good, but not for women
During my youth I spent a lot of time at "The Woods," an undeveloped piece of land on the east side of Detroit where we would play, explore and see all kinds of critters.
So when Jorge Mario Bergoglio (another Italian) was selected as pope in 2013 and chose Francis as his papal name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, I had that same spiritual excitement as an adult. And seeing Pope Francis embody the values of St Francis of Assisi in the following years just made me like him even more and more. His concern for all people and the environment. His humble ways and opting for a life of simplicity instead of embracing the normal trappings of the papacy. His openness on complex issues. His connection with everyday people.
Even those who weren't people of faith. He was a man who walked the talk of St. Francis. All this inspired me to become a supporter of his namesake charity in Detroit that helps the homeless, the Pope Francis Center, run by Father Tim McCabe and his dedicated staff.
Dio benedica Papa Francesco! We will miss you!
Frank Michael Seleno
Rochester Hills
More opinion: Will papal conclave veer from Pope Francis' legacy of inclusion?
Others will offer justifiably high praise for Pope Francis' words and deeds aligned with and promoting Gospel values based on the words and deeds of Jesus. And I will agree with most of it. However, what Pope Francis meant to me is disappointment.
In Catholic doctrine, there is literally a required physical and gender criterion to qualify for the ordained priesthood in the image of Christ. ("Image" meaning solely the maleness of Christ, not Jesus' ethnicity or race or economic status …) Catholic doctrine, in my opinion, deems femaleness as "less than," and thereby females as lacking the necessary inherent value apparently needed for interpreting Holy Scriptures or guiding Catholic theology in any capacity influential in church development or dogma. Women, by gender, are deemed unworthy to represent Christ as priests and are therefore incapable of receiving or fully understanding divine revelation.
Pope Francis firmly reinforced the "women are less than" doctrine during a May 2024 CBS 60 Minutes interview. When asked whether females will ever have the opportunity to be a deacon and participate as a clergy member in the Church, Francis, with unequivocal clarity, responded, "No." He added that any role, deacon or priest, that involves the sacrament of Holy Orders is not open to women.
Francis' "no" to women's ordination is not just the exclusion of women from a Church role. It is an insupportable and blatant rejection of women's full and equal dignity as acquired through God's gift and grace.
The pope's "no" to women not only keeps the ordination door firmly slammed shut (and thereby excludes women from many other Church roles, including any kind of decision-making leadership, selecting a new pope, closing churches, etc.), it also reinforced the locks, strengthened the no-women brackets, moved a massive boulder behind the door and sat an elephant on top of it, for another couple millennia.
As I may happen to catch news coverage of Pope Francis' upcoming funeral, I will be reminded of the many ways that he genuinely demonstrated Gospel goodness.
But as I watch a sea of men preside over the pope's funeral liturgy, as was the case for Mother Teresa's funeral, for example, where the less-than women are not only barely seen and only in very limited numbers and capacities, but by doctrine can have no role in preaching or consecrating or blessing, I will be strongly repelled by the church's females-are-less doctrine, and will feel even more strongly the depth of disappointment in the inconsistent and irreconcilable words of Pope Francis.
Disappointment is a selectively chosen, tame term used respectfully at this mournful time in recognition of the passing of a good man, Pope Francis. Truly, may he rest in God's great heavenly peace.
Susan Scannell
Allen Park
More: As a Jesuit, losing Pope Francis felt a lot like losing my dad
As we reflect on the tenure of Pope Francis, there is one aspect of his legacy that should not be overlooked: his commitment to environmental justice.
Shortly after his appointment in March 2013, climate change became a central issue. 'If we destroy creation, creation will destroy us,' he said. This was a year before the Paris Climate Agreement was adopted. In 2019, he addressed leaders of global fossil fuel companies, imploring them to make a rapid transition to renewable energy sources, going so far as to declare the crisis a 'climate emergency.'
In the words of Mark Watts, director of C40 Cities, a global network of mayors committed to climate action, 'he established for a worldwide audience that the climate crisis is not just an environmental challenge but a profound social and ethical issue, exacerbated by greed and short-term profit seeking, disproportionately affecting the world's most marginalized communities.'
Luke Daniels
Rochester
I would like to point out the hypocrisy of President Donald Trump's supposed antisemitic crusade. He is responsible for deporting people because they have expressed disapproval with how Palestinians are treated in the ongoing war with Hamas. He has denied funding to universities based upon the perception that these institutions don't do enough to curb what he would describe as antisemitic behavior.
However, as no one seems to ever point out, Trump has pardoned Capitol insurrectionists for attempting to facilitate the disruption of certification of a legitimate election. Among those people were those who displayed QAnon flags, wore a Camp Auschwitz (the notorious concentration camp) t-shirt and other antisemitic words and symbols.
As is typical of Trump, he selectively punishes those whom he claims are violating some principle when he does so himself
George Dziamniski
Monongahela, Pennsylvania
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pope Francis did a lot of good, but not for women | Letters
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